Limericks

Coming up, it's Lightning Fill in the Blank. But first, it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-Wait-Wait. That's 1-888-924-8924. You can click the contact us link on our website waitwait.npr.org, there you can find out about attending our weekly live shows here at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago.

You can check out the latest "How to do everything" podcast from our producers. This week: how to make a winter wonderland with only disposable diapers and a bowl of water.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Hi, you're on WAIT WAIT...DON'T TELL ME.

PAT BILKEY: Hi, this is Pat Bilkey.

SAGAL: Where you calling from, Pat?

BILKEY: I'm calling from Sheboygan Falls in Wisconsin.

SAGAL: Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

BILKEY: You know Sheboygan Falls?

SAGAL: Well, when I was a kid, Sheboygan, Wisconsin was almost like a mythical place. What do you do there in Sheboygan? Sheboygan Falls I should say.

BILKEY: I have my own business.

SAGAL: Yeah.

BILKEY: It's called Possibilities.

SAGAL: Oh.

BILKEY: Where I offer possibilities of help and wealth to people.

SAGAL: Good for you.

PAULA POUNDSTONE: Possibilities of health and wealth?

BILKEY: Yep.

POUNDSTONE: Just the possibility.

SAGAL: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It could happen, you never know.

BILKEY: It could happen.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah.

MAZ JOBRANI: No guarantees.

POUNDSTONE: But you'd be a fool not to make the investment.

SAGAL: I know.

BILKEY: Exactly.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Pat, welcome to the show.

BILKEY: Thank you, thank you.

SAGAL: Carl Kasell is going to read you three news-related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly on two of the limericks, you'll be a big winner. Ready to go?

BILKEY: I'm ready to go.

SAGAL: Here is your first limerick.

CARL KASELL, HOST:

I can't be seen drinking in here and some pictures might hurt my career. So when cameras flash, my drink makes them crash. I am saved by my bottle of?

BILKEY: Beer.

SAGAL: Right, very good, Pat.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Tired of waking up to find embarrassing drunk photos of yourself on Facebook? Time to stop drinking so much. Just kidding. No, instead, you want to stop the photos with the Norte Photoblocker. This is an electronic beer cozy. It looks like it's just keeping your beer cold, but what it really is it's deflecting photos. If you put it down on a nearby surface next to you, it will detect camera flashes and it will fire flashes back, ruining the photos.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: This is true. Save you from that. And apparently, it does not serve as a he'll do for tonight blocker.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Am I right guys? You know what I mean about that? Very good, here is your next limerick.

KASELL: I'll watch toy-making elves a bit tighter. Plath and Kafka won't make Christmas brighter. I'll have to recall this strange line of dolls. What kid wants to play with a?

BILKEY: Lighter.

SAGAL: No, not a lighter. That is true, a kid would not want to play with a lighter. Well, they might.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

POUNDSTONE: They would.

SAGAL: But there's some clues inside the limerick as well as the rhymes. You got the rhyme right. But listen for the clues, here we go again.

KASELL: I'll watch toy-making elves a bit tighter. Plath and Kafka won't make Christmas brighter. I'll have to recall this strange line of dolls. What kid wants to play with a?

BILKEY: Wow.

SAGAL: Plath and Kafka are examples.

BILKEY: Hmm, I'm not getting that one.

KASELL: You don't think so?

BILKEY: Huh-uh.

SAGAL: It's writer. Writer is the answer.

BILKEY: It's writer.

SAGAL: So if you want to get your child a doll this holiday season but you'd prefer to avoid Barbie or Bratz or Hasbro's new "Tiny Trollop" line, consider...

SAGAL: A Judy Blume, she's adorable. You should steer clear of the Sylvia Plath doll, though.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: She's great at first; just keep her away from the Easy Bake oven.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Is it too soon?

JESSI KLEIN: Is it too soon?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: All right, now this is fun. You still have one more chance. If you get this one right, you'll still win.

BILKEY: Okay.

SAGAL: Here's your last limerick.

KASELL: That low crack when I sing is my choice, but my ENT doesn't rejoice. I end phrases real low where my cords shouldn't go. I'm so cool that I'm hurting my?

BILKEY: Voice.

SAGAL: Yes, voice, very good.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: There is a hip new trend among teenage girls; it's speech impediments. Namely, "vocal fry" is what it is called. It was considered a speech disorder until Kesha and Britney Spears popularized it in their music. Basically, what it is, it's a kind of a creaky vibration that happens when you try to go lower than your natural voice. It's sort of you go like this and you got vocal fry.

You can get a sense of what you're actually talking about, I actually, in preparation, I secretly recorded my own teenage daughter just this morning. Here's an example of what vocal fry sounds like.